Episode 56: Madness!

Quote of the Week

"I'm not holding my breath, but I would like to see the self-proclaimed conservative, small government, anti-regulation, free-market zealots step up and take responsibility for wrecking the American economy and bringing about the worst financial crisis since the Depression."

- Bob Herbert, New York Times, 9/30/08
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Can't We All Just Get Along?

"Senator Obama and his allies in Congress infused unnecessary partisanship into the process."

(Beat)

"Now is not the time to fix blame. It's time to fix the problem."

- John McCain, 9/29/08

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Quote of the Week (2)

"These were the reckless clowns who led us into the foolish multi-trillion-dollar debacle in Iraq and crafted tax policies that enormously benefited millionaires and billionaires while at the same time ran up staggering amounts of government debt."

- Bob Herbert, New York Times, 9/30/08

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"So's your old man."
-G.O.P.

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Temper Tantrums. Check out tales of the angry little old candidate's rages when he doesn't get his way at http://eyesonobama.com/blogcontent/id_20167/title_McCains-History-of-Blow-ups-The-Top-Ten

Something Hopeful? Play this music video set in Obama headquarters - http://youtube.com/watch?v=W3ijYVyhnn0

Or inspirational? Here's the star-studded Yes We Can video - http://youtube.com/watch?v=ibhwXYRBCLM

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Time For a Break From All This Agita.
Go to Your Happy Place.

One of mine is Venice. Geezer envies friends Dan and Barbara who are about to splash down in La Serenissima in a couple of weeks. Dan speaks about 87 languages and has visited at least 150 countries, so he doesn't really need my advice about travel. But he politely asked for my restaurant suggestions, so I could hardly demur:

* Ancora (San Polo 120, tel. 041-520-7066) is, as far as we can tell, the only restaurant directly on the Grand Canal, with no intervening structures to block the views of the busy traffic of gondolas, vaporettos, delivery barges, and racing police and fire launches. The interior is a piano bar, but the broad terrace holds many tables for snacks, meals, coffee, and/or drinks. Our last time there we shared two large crostini, followed by a bowl of pasta e fagioli for me and, for Jo, a filet of branzino accompanied by white beans, a few scattered black olives, and tomato chunks in oil with fresh basil leaves. It was all light, fresh, and simple, and at 53 euros for everything, inexpensive by Venetian standards. Find it near the Rialto Market.

Osteria Ai 4 Feri (Dorsoduro 2754/A, tel. 041-520-6978) is a tiny, highly popular spot at the corner of Campo San Barnaba. Get there early (around 12 or 7) or make a reservation or expect a wait. We shared a primo piatto (first course) of roasted vegetables - eggplant, mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, fennel, spinach, potatoes, and beets - very filling. We followed with spaghetti vongole, pinkie-sized clams tossed in a garlic and oil sauce. Tab was only 39 euros, with two glasses of wine.

Trattoria alla Palazzina (Cannaregio 1509, tel. o41-71) is in the sestiere (quarter) that contains the ancient Jewish "ghetto" of the city. The name itself was born here. This restaurant is next to the east end of the Ponte Guglie, with an ancient dining room in front and a long trellised garden terrace in back. We've been there before, and it wasn't any cheaper the last time, so look for the page in the long menu titled "Traditional Dishes", at lower, if not cheap, tariffs than the more contemporary items. We both had plates of light-as-air gnocchi in tomato sauce and shared a secondi platter of grilled lamb and sausage. With wine,, water, coffee, and limoncello, the tab came to 92 euros. The traffic on the adjoining canal is diverting.

Osteria-Enoteca Ai Artisi (Fondamenta della Toletta, tel. 041-523-8944) used to be a simple ombra e cichetti bar (tumblers of wine with tapas-like snacks). Now we found it had become a little more serious, with an explanded menu and many more wines by the glass. We ordered a seafood antipasti platter, a pasta ragout, and a pasta with anchovies, a Venetian speciality. All good, along with three big glasses of Multipuciano and Brunello, two liqueurs, and two expressos, and not unusually expensive at 70 euros.

Ristorante San Trovaso (Dorso Duro 967, tel. 041-523-0835) is down a quiet lane about a block-and-a-half from its better-known sibling, Taverna San Trovaso. We've eaten in both, but find the kitchen as capable and the staff less cranky here. When weather permits, the garden is the venue of choice, but there is a large dining room. Jo had melon with prosciutto, a serving about twice as large as it might be in the States. I had penne in a zesty sauce of olives, tomato, and a sprinkling of hot pepper flakes. Each would constitute a full meal at home, but it was our last day, so we ordered up secondis of fritta mista, grilled branzino, and a plate of four vegetables. After, Jo got the scroppino she's craved, a liquid dessert of lemon gelato and vodka. I had
a glass of vin santo, a digestif not widely available in the U.S. The bill is 89 euros.

Cantinone Gia Schiavi (Fondamenta Maravegie 992) is a wine shop with a bar serving crostini - slices of bread topped with bits of cheese, fish, sauteed leeks, olive paste, and whatever inspires the owners that day. Much of it is forked straight from can to bread, meaning that the two- or three-bite tidbits can't really compare to a good Spanish tapas parlor. But with a spritzy glass of wine from the Veneto and a amiable crowd that drifts out to the sidewalk despite the sign imploring them not to, it makes an atmospheric stop on your way to lunch or dinner. The walls are lined with bottles of wine, some at unusually reasonable prices.
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Kayaking Down the Canal Grande
It sounds entirely logical: Venice is a city on water, with beguilingly romantic mansions and palaces rising from the edges of every canal. What better way to see it all than from a kayak?
One little thing: Although the city authorities endeavor to remove the more obvious detritus floating by - watermelon rinds, orange peels, items of clothing - they have yet to deal with less visible pollutants. That water teems with contaminants causing bacterial infections that keep the emergency room busy with unwary boating enthusiasts. After Katherine Hepburn fell into the San Barnaba canal for her role in Summertime back in the 1950s, she developed an ear infection that stayed with her the rest of her life.
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Bonehead Remark of the Week (Anti-American Division)
The permanent secretary of the award jury selecting the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature next week has divested himself of the opinion that the United States is too insular and ignorant to compete with Europe in great writing. "You can't get away from the fact that Europe is still the center of the literary world, not the United States." Apart from ignoring the awards of that very honor to Faulkner and Hemingway, Horace Engdahl obviously dismisses the work of approximately 250,000 published writers in a country of thirty million. Perhaps he hasn't come across Roth, Updike, and DeLillo, among many prospects. And he might ask himself why the Academy never got around to anointing Nabakov, Joyce, and Proust, Europeans all.
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